


Surrealist

by intergalxtic



Category: Beetlejuice - All Media Types, Beetlejuice - Perfect/Brown & King
Genre: Lydia and Delia bonding, Modelling, Photography, School, charles is only mentioned like once sorry, i just love them okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:01:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23838001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/intergalxtic/pseuds/intergalxtic
Summary: Lydia is tasked to take surrealist photos for an assignment. Fortunately, she knows someone who used to model. And that person just so happens to be Delia.
Relationships: Adam Maitland/Barbara Maitland, Charles Deetz/Delia Deetz, Delia Deetz & Lydia Deetz
Comments: 4
Kudos: 47





	Surrealist

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!! This one is a tad more Lydia centred, but I hope you enjoy nonetheless!

Lydia sits in her photography class, tapping her pen against the desk. Usually this is Lydia’s favourite class, but they were going over stuff Lydia already knew after finishing everyone’s presentations. 

She watches the clock tick by, waiting for something interesting to happen. Five minutes before the bell going, her teacher grabs her attention by saying the word “assignment”.

Her head snaps up, staring at the teacher intensely. Lydia likes it when they do assignments, especially when she is allowed to pick her own theme and aesthetic. Last time, she picked “dark academia”, going to her local library after hours (with permission, of course) and organising the old books in such a way, it looked haunted. She received extremely high marks, a couple of pinterest saves and tumblr reblogs.

“Now. The theme for this assignment is surrealism. Remember to choose a good colour scheme, and you can use photoshop.” The teacher explains, winking goofily at Lydia. 

At first, Lydia is stumped for ideas. As the bell rings, she hauls her bag over her shoulder, deep in thought. What’s something surreal… 

Hmm… maybe…

_ Ghosts! _

But what about ghosts? She can’t just photograph them, because then they don’t show up. She could put them in sheets? No, that’s too obvious. It would look like straight photoshop. She could get Beetlejuice to do something cool. That could work! But, it would look terribly suspicious.

Lydia strudges along the sidewalk, down the main road of shops. She decided to take the long way, giving her time to think before she gets home. Maybe she could ask Delia. As she goes past the thrift store, a dress catches her eye, immediately awarding her with an idea.

It was a Victorian-style long, white, wedding-like dress. The (what would have been) bright colour had faded to a darker shade, giving it vintage feels. And, it’s a perfect size for Delia. Lydia runs inside the store, to find the price tag. 

“Are you looking at that dress?” An elderly woman croaks, slowly approaching Lydia. “I’ve been trying to sell it for years. How much do you want it for?”

“Name your lowest price.” Lydia narrows her eyes, unsure of the women's motives. 

“Seven dollars.” She says simply yet mysteriously. Lydia contemplates silently.  _ What if it has a spell on it? _ The woman sees her concerned eyes, and starts laughing. “Don’t worry, it’s not cursed. It’s just no-one has any use for a dress like this.”

Lydia gives the woman a lopsided grin. She always keeps a ten dollar note in her school bag, in case of an emergency. This seems close enough, so she hands the woman the note after she takes the dress off the mannequin, and places it in a large plastic bag.

“Keep the change!” Lydia calls out, as she picks up the pace all the way back home, until she’s running as fast as she can on the gravel road that leads up the hill and into the driveway. 

Lydia comes crashing through the door, panting loudly trying to catch her breath. She tosses her school bag next to the door, and pulls out the dress, unfolding and admiring it. She spreads it out on the empty dining room table. 

“Delia!” She shouts, leaning against the table. “I have a question!”

Delia comes flying down the stairs gracefully, straight over to the table to stare at the dress. “Wow, this is beautiful! Did you buy it? Wait, what were you going to ask me?”

“Oh, uh… You used to model, right?” Lydia asks cautiously, shuffling her feet on the polished floorboards.

“Yeah, for a while…” Delia grimaces, shuddering slightly but recovering quickly with a smile. “Why do you ask?”

“I have a photography assignment, the theme is surrealism. I walked past the thrift store…” Lydia launches into her ideas, explaining almost every detail she wants. “I would have to get the Maitlands and BJ to help, obviously. It’s gonna rain tonight, so it will be pretty dewy and misty tomorrow morning? We would have to wake up fairly early.”

“Of course! I’m always up early, so just tell me when you’re ready!” Delia grins at Lydia before pulling her into a quick hug, and then scurries up the stairs, to tell Charles. 

The next morning, Delia rises at exactly one minute past six, right at sunrise. She sits on her yoga mat, calmly breathing in and out, negative thought absent. After a while, Delia decides to skip out on the yoga, just for one morning, and instead goes straight into the rest of her routine.

She showers, and puts on the white dress Lydia chose out for her. It fit her perfectly. She puts on more neutral makeup, instead the bold look she usually goes with, and her curly hair is hanging just past She pairs it with a rose quartz necklace, and no shoes. 

She looks at herself in the mirror, realising that she looks slightly like a fairy. Perhaps that’s the look Lydia wants. She heads downstairs, to see Lydia, Adam, Barbara, and Beetlejuice already there. 

“Am I late?” Delia questions, her eyes glancing up at the clock. Ten minutes past seven.

“Nope, I was just about to go get you.” Lydia says, munching on a piece of toast. “You look great, by the way.”

“Oh, thank you.” Delia blushes a deep red. She clasps her hands together tight, waiting for Lydia’s signal to go outside. Once Lydia finishes her breakfast, they head right out the back door, into their yard. 

Lydia was right, it was dewy and a little misty outside. Lydia sets up her camera stand, adjusting the height up and down, while Delia just stands, her feet already numb from the cold grass. 

“Just tell me what to do, and I’ll do it.” Delia says softly. The Maitlands could only go as far as the deck, so they stood a little further back. Beetlejuice on the other hand, was whizzing around. 

“BJ!” Lydia shouts, making Delia flinch slightly. “Can you make it mistier around Delia? Adam and Barbara, can you lift her up?”

“Lift me up?” Delia exclaims, unable to hold herself back. “Oh my.”

“You’ll be fine.” Barbara assures. “Are you ready?”

“Sure.” Delia braces herself, and is promptly in the air. She flails her arms and legs around like a bird at first, but easily finds her balance after a few moments of being held up. 

“Can you lay down?” Lydia says, looking through the lens of the camera. Delia silently complies. 

She lays on her back, arching up, crossing her bent legs. One of her hands rests under her chin, the other reaching back. She relaxes, giving her the illusion of sleep. She hears the camera clip a few times, then rolls onto her stomach, resting the side of her head on her hands, her legs angled back. 

She keeps doing more and more poses, until she’s run out of ideas. Adam and Barbara lower Delia to the ground, and she wobbles to Lydia to see the outcomes. 

“I still have to edit them,” Lydia mentions, then hands Delia the camera. As she is flicking through them, she is mesmerised. Lydia’s photography skills are incredible. It’s not that Delia ever doubted her, she always got amazing grades in this class, but this exceeded any expectations she had. 

“Wow, Lydia, these are…” Delia is lost for words, tears welling in her eyes. “I’ve had professional photographers take photos of me and they are nowhere near as good as these!”

“Really” Lydia’s face lights up with happiness, her eyes full of joy.

“And some non-professionals,” Delia says under her breath before answering, “Yes! These are beautiful!”

Lydia can’t help but break out into a huge grin as she disassembles the stand. Then she begins to wonder.

“Why did you stop modelling?” Lydia asks once they are back inside, and Delia has changed out of the dress. 

“Oh! Well, it’s a long story, and probably boring-”

“We have time.” Lydia bats her eyelashes, and for a moment, Delia almost falls for it.

“Long story short, I got scammed by a fake company. It was a mess.” Delia runs her hand through her reminiscently, deep in thought. “It was a stressful industry.”

“Okay.” Lydia doesn’t know how to react. She is looking that “mess” up when she’s done, which should be soon, in theory. 

She pulls out her camera and starts transferring them to her laptop. As they download, she groans, as she realises she has to write two paragraphs on the images. Looks like she’ll just have to wait.

**Author's Note:**

> I had some fun writing this one. It's a little short, but oh well!
> 
> Hope you liked it!


End file.
